


A Perfect Balancing Act

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, Opens and closes with ocs but is still mostly about Jon and Martin, The Apocalypse, post episode 160
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22535911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Maybe Gerry was right, and there are no entities that oppose the fears. But there is love, and sometimes that is enough.
Relationships: Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner (Implied), Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	A Perfect Balancing Act

Leah felt a shiver run down her spine, and she immediately knew that something was wrong. She got up and hurried over to the window. Everything was far too dark for nine in the morning, and there was no storm or clouds to justify it. She dropped the curtain and rushed to grab her phone off of the couch. She dialed her wife’s number with steady hands, and waited patiently for the other woman to pick up.

Ella spoke as soon as she answered. “I see it.” Her voice was far grimmer than normal. “All those people fighting over their rituals, I suppose one of them was bound to succeed eventually.”

Leah cautiously walked pack over to the window to peer outside again. “But that would be impossible. We both know that all of the fears are far too closely tied together for any one of them to break through.” Then she gasped as she understood. “For any ONE to break through.”

“Shit, you don’t really think-”

Leah nodded once, even though she knew that her wife wouldn’t be able to see the gesture over the phone. “I do.”

They were both silent for a few seconds, and then Ella cleared her throat. “Well then we’ll just have to fix this, won’t we? I doubt that those stupid fear avatars are going to do anything to clean this mess up even if they wanted to, which I doubt.”

There were several fears that had enjoyed the world as it was supposed to be, but the avatars didn’t always act in the best interest of the entities that they represented. “Hey, there’s no need for insults. Anyways, where do we even start? Of course I believe in us, and I think that we can do this, but that doesn’t stop it from being a giant task.”

She waited patiently while her wife thought about it. “I’m thinking that there’s only one place that makes sense to start at.”

Leah nodded, already in agreement without having to hear the words. “The Magnus Institute. You know, after we worked so hard to avoid that place, to avoid the Watcher, it feels a bit anticlimactic to just walk right in through the front doors.”

Ella snorted. “This is totally the apocalypse, babe. Why should we have to go through the front doors?”  
,,,

Kyle wondered if he should be surprised by the giant eyes blinking down at him where there should have been stars. True, he liked to believe the best of people, but he wasn’t naive enough to think that there were no bad people in the world. And there had always been plenty of bad people who wanted to gain power from fear, so the fact that this had happened probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise. It had, though, been a surprise that is. Well, that was just fine. He was sure that the fears would be just as surprised when Kyle fought back. 

He went back inside, and found his mum, his dad, and his older sister. “We should probably get moving.”  
,,,

Rhodan saw the wave of ants approaching, and she grabbed the flamethrower that she always kept in the back of her pantry just in case. “Who’s the paranoid one now, Mum?” she asked as she sprayed fire onto the pesky insects. It felt like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment.

Though as she watched a new swarm of bugs rise up from her neighbor’s mouth, she couldn’t help but think that maybe she should have thought to stock up on extra fuel. Before she could get overwhelmed, though, there was another blast of fire that came from behind her, and Rhodan glanced over her shoulder to see her mum with a deodorant-and-lighter flamethrower. “Alright, I’ll give you this one,” her mum said with a cheeky grin.   
,,,

Abby had just three cans of soup left in her backpack, and one water bottle, but she knew that she’d be alright. She had her daughters to look after, and Abby knew that she was going to keep fighting for them, no matter what. “Mum?”

Abby glanced over at Katya, the eldest of the three girls. “Yeah?”

She was somewhat startled when Katya suddenly threw her arms around Abby’s waist and pulled her in for a tight hug. “I used to think that you told us all those stories to scare us into brushing our teeth and going to bed on time. But now I am so, so grateful that you told us about all of this.”

Abby smiled as she gladly returned the hug. “As long as you remember the most important thing I taught you…”

“That we never let fear win,” Katya answered immediately. “I know, Mum.” Even when she pulled away, Abby could feel the warmth of the gesture. Yeah, they were going to be alright.  
,,,

Texas let out a loud sigh of frustration, which led to her husband, Henry, sticking his head out through the car window. “What’s wrong?”

Texas resisted the urge to just kick the front of the car. “I don’t happen to have spare engine parts on me, and this one is busted. I guess trying to outdrive a hoard of the undead wasn’t our best idea.”

Henry hopped out of the car, and pressed a kiss against Texas’ shoulder (which was as high as he could reach on her unless she leaned over). “It’s going to be alright. Come on, let’s figure out the best way to carry all of our supplies, and then we’ll get moving again.”

Texas shifted to rest her chin on top of Henry’s head for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s just keep moving.”  
,,,

“I swear to Christ, if we lost one more flashlight, I’m going to start wearing a miner’s helmet,” Rick grumbled once they were a safe distance away from the shack they’d been staying in for the past few nights. 

Rick’s best friend, Steven, laughed. “And where the hell would you find a miner’s helmet?”

Rick rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, how about in a mine?” Of course Rick didn’t actually plan on digging around in a mine, not when there was so many ways that that could go fantastically wrong, but still, it was a nice thought. “Oh, shut up. Come on, let’s go find some more flashlights.”

Steve nodded, and hurried to keep up as Rick suddenly started powering ahead. “Guess we’re not burning any daylight here, huh?”

“No we are certainly not. At least not while those bastards want to burn it for us.” 

Steve laughed again, and then the two of them stayed mostly quiet as they focused on moving as quickly as possible.  
,,,

Korrin didn’t even know Franklin and Red before all of this started, but she did know that the last thing she wanted to do was be alone. After being bounced around from one home to the next over the past thirteen years, she’d always been afraid that nobody would want her, and she’d end up alone in the end. 

Franklin and Red had saved her life, though, and then told her everything they knew about what was going on. She had promised them that she’d find a way to be useful if they took her with them, and they had assured her that they would take her whether she could be helpful or not. 

It had been the first time in her entire life that Korrin had felt wanted by anyone, and she’d nearly started crying tears of relief. Maybe it was sad that Korrin wasn’t about to find a forever home without the literal apocalypse, but she was just happy to have found them. And even though the three of them had only been traveling together for a couple of months, Korrin knew that she’d found a family.  
,,,

Mr. President was, without a doubt, the worst guard dog that Benton had ever had the pleasure of loving. “You’re supposed to bark when strangers show up,” he grumbled good naturedly as he watched the traitorous pup cozy up with the small group that had just stumbled across Benton’s camp. 

Once everyone had finished petting Mr. President to their heart’s content, the leader of the group finally stepped forward and cleared her throat. “Sorry, I know you’re probably out here because you just want to be alone, but, well…”

“Well what?”

The woman glanced back at the others in her group before focusing on Benton. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that these are dangerous times for anyone to be on their own,” she started.

Benton frowned. “What are you talking about? I wear my bright vest just like anyone else. I’m not going to get myself shot.”

The woman stared at him for a moment, and then her eyes widened. “Wait a minute- how long have you been out here?”

Benton shrugged, and tipped his head back to think about it. “Going on fifteen years or so, I think. It’s mighty peaceful out here in the woods, and I’ve got Mr. President for company. Plenty of game, and I’ve got a vegetable garden behind my cabin. Got a pretty fast little river nearby that supplies me with power and everything.”

The woman just continued to stare at him, like he was some kind of mysterious creature. “Does that mean you don’t know?”

Benton crossed his arms over his chest. “Know what?”

The woman sighed, and tipped her head up to look up at the thick canopy of trees above them. “Oh lord help me.” Then she looked back at Benton. “What do you know about fears?”  
,,,

Martin carefully pried open the door to the little cottage in front of him after Jon gave the all-clear. They both went in, and began to thoroughly explore and inventory anything that seemed useful. There was no food other than some putrid dishes in the fridge that were no longer identifiable, but Jon found some batteries for their big lantern, and Martin found that the mattress in the master bedroom was quite comfortable. “We should stay here for the night.”

Jon glanced around, and then nodded once. “Yeah, I agree.” 

After setting up all of their usual defenses, they curled up on the bed together. Martin knew that Jon never needed to sleep anymore, but Martin did, and they both felt safer when they were able to hold each other. And even though Martin hated to ‘use’ Jon, he had to admit that it was nice that Jon could warn him whenever something dangerous got too close to them.

When Martin woke up in the morning, he felt fear swoop through his stomach when he realized that Jon’s side of the bed was empty. The sheets were still warm, though, and Martin quickly got up and made his way to the kitchen. Jon was standing in front of the counter, staring out the little window. “Bed too comfortable for you?”

Jon snorted as he turned around to face Martin, and then they both moved at the same time to pull each other into a hug. Jon pressed his face into Martin’s shoulder, and they both just stood there and held each other for a minute. Then Jon pulled away, and cleared his throat. “I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or not, but there’s something not far from here that I can’t See.”

Martin frowned. “We should head in the opposite direction, then. It’s probably the Stranger, or-”

Jon shook his head. “I can’t really describe it, but I don’t think that it’s… I think we should check it out.”

Almost immediately, a cloud of worry enveloped Martin. What if Jon had been compromised and wasn’t thinking clearly? What if that wasn’t even Jon and this was some kind of trap and-

The feeling of Jon’s rough hand on his arm pulled Martin out of his thoughts. He reached up to grab Jon’s hand, and ran his fingers over the familiar scars that took up so much space. “I’m still me,” Jon promised. “It’s been nearly a year, so when are you going to start trusting me?”

“Oh, Jon, of course I trust you. It’s everything else in the world that I don’t trust right now.” He leaned forward to kiss Jon’s forehead. “If you really think that this is something we should investigate, then we’ll go. But we need to be smart about this, okay?”

Martin should have known that saying that was just saying that was asking for trouble. Two hours later, he found himself lying flat on his back after he got pinned down by a girl who barely looked to be in her teens. If he wasn’t so terrified, for both himself and Jon, he might have taken the time to be embarrassed by the easy defeat.

A couple of adults stood around as well, pointing weapons down at Martin. But there were many more of them focused on Jon. “Look at his eyes,” one of them argued. “He’s obviously one of them!”

“Do you really think that an avatar of fear would look about ready to piss himself out of fright?”

“How did he find us if he’s just a normal guy?”

“Why are we all still alive and in one piece if he’s not?”

The arguing went back and forth for a few minutes, and Martin wanted to shout out that Jon was innocent, that none of this was his fault, but a piece of duct tape had been slapped over his mouth when he’d been toppled, and there was no point in wasting his energy with useless unintelligible noises. 

Just when Martin was starting to consider doing something drastic (like tapping into the Lonely, even though he’d promised Jon right at the start that he’d never do that again), someone else let out a sharp whistle, and it was enough to quiet everyone down.

It was difficult to get a good look from his position, but Martin saw a glimpse of muddy boots out of the corner of his eye. “Oh my god- Jon?” There was a muffled noise from Jon, and then the woman spoke again, and Martin realized that her voice sounded familiar. “Let him up, he’s one of the good ones.” 

There was the sound of some movement, and then the loud noise that came from tearing tape off of skin. “Martin too,” were the first words Jon croaked out. Whoever was in charge must have agreed, because the tape was pulled off of Martin’s mouth too, and then the girl got off of him and offered a hand down to help pull him up to his feet. 

Martin looked over at the woman who’d spoken, but she was still facing Jon, so he couldn’t get a good look at her face yet. Martin took a few cautious steps forward to make sure he was really, and then let out a sigh of relief when no one tried to stop him. He hurried over to Jon, and quickly checked him over for damage. He knew that Jon healed impossibly fast, but that never stopped him from worrying. And he could tell from the way Jon looked at him fretfully that Jon was just as worried about Martin.

Then they both turned to face the woman again, and finally it clicked in Martin’s mind. He’d only seen her a couple of times, and it felt like so long ago at this point, but that was definitely, “Georgie,” Jon said in a rough voice. He let go of Martin’s hand so that he could pull the woman into a hug. “I’m so glad that you’re alright.”

Georgie easily returned the embrace, and the two of them stayed like that for much longer than the average hug. Maybe Martin should have felt jealous about seeing Jon so affectionate with his ex, but honestly after everything they’d been through, Martin knew for sure what Jon’s feelings were, and he knew that he had nothing to worry about. 

When the two of them finally separated, Jon reached out to take Martin’s hand again, and even after all this time, it still sent warmth through Martin’s whole body when Jon touched him so casually, yet intimately. “Melanie’s here too. And a bunch of others. I always hoped that you two made it out okay, but there was no way to know.” She glanced over at the many people who were still standing around. “These two are friends, honest.” Then she led them down the road, and Martin got his first good look at the property.

Apparently all of these people were staying in what appeared to be the dorm building of a college campus. Getting inside required walking past four different people who were standing on guard duty, as well as a dog that seemed far too friendly to be there. They got warm welcomes from everyone, though there were still several distrustful looks shot in Jon’s direction. 

“Looks like you have a pretty decent set up,” Jon murmured.

Georgie nodded. “It was a group effort to fortify this place, but it was worth the work. Oh, and I should let you know that it’s mandatory for everyone to have at least one roommate, though I get the feeling that that won’t be a problem for you two.”

Jon’s face darkened, and Martin felt his own cheeks heat up as well. Honestly, it was amazing that he was still capable of feeling like this even after being with Jon for so long. 

As Georgie gave them the grand tour of the place, Martin did his best to keep track of each face that they saw, trying to memorize all of them, along with the names Georgie introduced them by. There were so many families, and even those that weren’t related or together seemed to have come together to form an even larger family unit. It made an idea start to grow in the back of Martin’s mind, but it wasn’t anything concrete enough to even say out loud, at least not yet.

After they’d been introduced to everyone, Georgie gave them an empty room. It looked large enough for multiple people, but only had one bed in it. Georgie just shrugged when Martin gave her a questioning look. “We had to shuffle some furniture around. Like I said, nobody is allowed to room alone, so sometimes that means cramming an extra bed in somewhere. Melanie and I are in room 213, but we’re usually only in there to sleep. You two both look exhausted, so why don’t you get some rest, and then we can chat more later?”

Martin figured that it was probably best not to point out that Jon didn’t need to sleep. Sure, Martin knew about how Georgie had been touched by the End, but at this point who hadn’t been touched by an entity? That didn’t mean that Georgie, or anyone else here, would be alright with keeping Jon around if they knew that he’d been more than a little touched by an entity. 

So he just nodded in agreement, and waited patiently for her to leave the room so that he could turn and face Jon. “Have you noticed that everyone here…” he trailed off when it became apparent that Jon was barely paying any attention to him. “What is it?”

Jon sighed, and slumped down onto the bed. It let out a loud creak, but Jon didn’t even wince. They’d both slept in a lot worse places than dorm beds. “All of these people were forced out of their homes and on the road for who knows how long until they found this place, which they had to work hard to make safe, but even then safe is a relative term because we both know that sturdy walls and a buddy system aren’t going to keep out all of the fears. And all of this is because of me.”

Martin dropped down to his knees in front of the bed and reached out to grab both of Jon’s hands. “Jon, no. We’ve talked about this, remember? None of this is your fault. You didn’t want for any of this to happen. The only person to blame is Jonah Magnus, and if there’s anyone you’re going to berate for putting these people through so much, it’s him.” He’d thought that he’d already driven the point home with Jon ages ago, but apparently seeing all of these survivors gathered in one place had brought it all right back. “Please tell me that you understand that this isn’t your fault.” He knew that none of the people here would take it well if they found out about Jon’s unwilling part in this whole mess, and he didn’t think he’d be able to take the stress of constantly wondering when Jon was going to crack and tell everyone out of guilt. 

Jon sighed, and then nodded once. “Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t- even if I didn’t want this to happen, I’m still the one who-”

Martin squeezed Jon’s hands gently. “If it wasn’t you, then it would have been someone else. And maybe they wouldn’t have been strong enough to make it this far after.”

Jon let out a hollow sounding laugh. “Martin, the only reason I’ve made it this far is because of your strength, not mine.”

Similar sentiments had been shared between them before, but it was the first time Jon had directly said those words, and Martin felt his face start to redden. “We made it together,” he said firmly, though he didn’t think he’d be able to just forget about Jon’s words so easily. “I know you don’t really need to sleep, but I’m sure that you could do with some rest anyways.”

Jon nodded, and both of them moved so that they could take off their shoes, and then got onto the bed together. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but with Jon lying half across Martin’s chest, he barely took up any space of his own, so it wasn’t too big of a deal. It was still better than that time they’d spent the night half buried under gravel to keep out of sight of anything that might be looking for them.  
,,,

Jon didn’t bother closing his eyes, he knew that lying still was close enough to rest for him. It’s not like he could get away even when the urge to move hit him, because Martin always kept his arms tightly wrapped around Jon’s waist. He didn’t really mind, since it was comforting and felt safe, but it could get annoying when it meant that he had to just lie around all night.

Maybe it was a bit creepy, but Jon did find that a nice way to pass the time was to watch Martin. He looked so different when he was asleep, so peaceful and young. Jon reached up to very lightly brush his fingers over the stubble that had been building up on Martin’s face for the past few days. Now that they were somewhere at least semi-stable, Martin would probably go back to shaving regularly, but Jon couldn’t deny that there was something quite lovely about the facial hair.

Jon shifted around so that he was resting his head on Martin’s chest, always content to listen to the heartbeat. It was always nice to get that reminder that Martin was still alive, and that they were both still going. 

Just as he settled in to what would probably be a few hours of lying still, there was a loud knock at the door, and Martin immediately bolted upright. He had trained himself to be able to wake up in an instant, in case they needed to run again. He looked at Jon, and Jon shook his head. “It’s just a kid. I think the one that tackled you earlier?” He could tell that Martin was embarrassed about being taken down like that, but Jon Knew that the girl out there had become tough in order to survive in this new world. 

Both of them got up and walked over to the door, and then Martin pulled it open. He looked down at the girl. “Uh, hello?”

The girl gave him a sheepish look. “Hi, I’m Korrin. I just wanted to apologize about earlier. I hope that I didn’t hurt you at all.”

Martin shook his head. “No, no I’m fine, it’s alright. And you don’t have to apologize, you were just doing what you thought was necessary to protect your family. Nobody can blame you for that.” 

With that apology out of the way, both men clearly expected Korrin to leave, but she just continued to stand there. Jon frowned as he tried to figure out what she wanted, but then she started talking before too much prying became needed. “I know that you’re probably still tired; believe me I understand that life out on the road isn’t easy these days. But there are some people that I want you to meet, and I think it’s very important that you get to know them.”

“So important that it can’t wait another couple of hours?” Jon grumbled. He might not need the sleep, but Martin did, and Jon didn’t even want to think about what would happen if something dangerous came up while Martin was too tired to run away or fight back.

Korrin didn’t seem bothered by Jon’s question, she just answered in a voice that was really too serious for a kid of her age. “Yes. I mean, clearly you already know Georgie, and that’s great, because she’s been a wonderful leader to all of us. But there are a lot more people here than just her. Almost sixty of us last time we counted. And every single one of us works hard to do our part to keep the rest of the group going.”

Jon frowned. “But why is it so urgent that we meet them?”

“Because you need to understand where you are. You need to know how important this place is. And if you’ve made it this long, then that means you’re probably not idiots. The safest thing is for everyone here to know everyone else as intimately as possible. To make sure that we can always recognize each other.”

Jon wanted to continue asking questions so that he could loop back to an argument about why Korrin should leave them alone for at least a little while, but then Martin reached out to put his hand on Jon’s arm, clearly indicating for him to stop. Then Martin gave Korrin a careful look. “You’re right, that sounds like a good idea. But it might take a while to get to know everybody, so why don’t we start with whoever’s most important?”

The grin that lit up the girl’s face made Jon heave out a large sigh of defeat. “That’s an easy one! Red and Franklin, of course!” 

“The first ones to actually want you,” Jon blurted out before he could stop himself.

Korrin stared up at him with wide eyes. “Y- yeah. How did you know that? I don’t exactly keep a diary that you can read through.” Perhaps in more innocent times, she would have just let the mistake slip, but this was the apocalypse, and there was far too much risk in leaving a situation like this alone. “You really do have very unusual eyes. I heard Texas mention it earlier, but I never got a chance to see for myself until now. So, out with it. Which one of ‘em are you working for?”

“I don’t-”

“Tell me, or I’ll tell everyone else to kick you out,” she warned.

Jon sighed. He didn’t want to think that Georgie would just toss him out, but it had also been a long time since he’d last seen her, and she had all of these people to protect now, so he wouldn’t be able to blame her in the slightest if she did decide that he was too dangerous to keep around. Maybe she’d at least let Martin stay, in that case (though Jon selfishly hoped that if it did come down to that, Martin would be crazy enough to leave behind the safety and security of this place). “Look, I’m not lying, I don’t work for any of the entities, not exactly. I was tricked into doing the Eye’s dirty work, but that’s not- I never wanted to-”

He wasn’t sure why, but Korrin seemed to accept that, and her muscles lost some of the tension that had been built up so suddenly. “Alright.” Martin still looked worried, but Jon Knew that the girl believed him, and he wasn’t going to intentionally invade her privacy by trying to figure out why. “Just- be careful. Not everyone is as trusting as me.” She gave both men a long look, and then turned to leave. After a couple of steps, she glanced back over her shoulder at them. “Aren’t you coming? You still need to meet everyone.” 

Jon blinked once in surprise, and then couldn’t help smiling a bit as he followed Korrin towards the stairs. Martin walked right next to him, and reached out to hold Jon’s hand as they moved at a casual, steady pace. This was nice, and for once Jon was grateful to the Eye, since it had clearly led him here, though he couldn’t help feeling concern itch at the back of his mind. The entities had never cared about the happiness of their avatars before, so why would they start now?  
,,,

Georgie gave Jon and Martin a little over two weeks to get settled in and get to know everybody before she gave them their first real mission. “Look, ideally, obviously we’d all just hole up in here forever, but unfortunately, a dorm building isn’t exactly self-sustaining. We have a garden out back, and there are solar panels and generators, but there are a lot of people here. We need water, food, and medicine, though water is the most important. You’ve both made it this long, so I’m assuming that you can take care of yourselves, which means that you need to start pulling your weight around here.” 

“Yeah, of course.”

Georgie reached out to grab Jon’s arm. “We’re all still going to be here when you get back. You can leave whatever you want in your room, and I promise that nobody will touch it while you’re gone. You’ve got a place here for as long as you need it, I promise.” 

Jon looked somewhat more relaxed after that as he listened to Georgie explain where the best places to scavenge would be. And she didn’t need to remind either of them about the dangers of the fears, and that they should never take big risks for any reason. 

Then Martin and Jon went to their room to rest up for the night so that they’d be ready to go out on their mission. It wasn’t until the next morning, when they made their way down to the lobby, that Georgie neglected to mention something rather important. “You didn’t think we’d send you out on your own, did you? Sure, a huge group moving around can be something of a liability, but it’s way too dangerous to send anyone out on two-man jobs. We go by a rule of five when we can. Wouldn’t want you screwing up on your own and coming back empty-handed.” 

The other three that were heading out with them were named Leah, Texas, and Red. Red gave Martin and Jon an apologetic look. “Excuse Texas’ bluntness. She’s got people here to worry about, just like we all do.”

Jon shrugged. “It’s fine, we get it.” 

The small group set out with enough supplies to last them for a couple of days, and soon enough the dorm building was out of sight, and with it, the sense of safety that it had provided. 

After they’d been walking for a little while, Leah dropped back to talk to Jon. “I wonder what’s different about you two. Georgie’s usually got a pretty strict rule about multiple people from the same group going out on a trip together. Her theory is that the more people we love that are still at home, the more motivation we’ll have to get back safely.”

Jon shrugged, even as he wondered if Georgie understood the need for anchors to survive some of the fears, or if she’d just gotten lucky when she’d decided to make that rule. “It was just the two of us for quite a while, and I think that if I couldn’t see him, I’d be too busy thinking about him to focus on what I’m doing.” He tried to think about the things he’d learned naturally, rather than the things that Knew just by looking at Leah. “Your wife is Ella, right? The one who burned down the Magnus Institute?” He could still remember the feeling of shock that had hit him back when the building had first burned, and he hoped that Jonah had been mad about it. That had been all the way back at the beginning, though, and Jon had all but forgotten about his old workplace until Ella had proudly bragged about what she’d done to it.

A fond smile appeared on Leah’s face. “Yeah, that’s her. She’s the best, isn’t she?” 

Before Jon could respond, Texas looked back at them, eyebrows crooked disapprovingly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we happen to be out here risking out lives at the moment, and the two of you chattering away isn’t going to help us. So either shut up or turn back right now, because I am not letting anyone get killed over useless chit chat.”

Jon rolled his eyes, then mimed zipping his lips shut. Leah snorted, and then leaned over to speak in a level just barely audible even from so close. “She’s bossy now, but just wait until you hear her when she’s around the kids. Or her husband. Turns into a total puddle of goo around them. She’s just a big softie, really.” Then she quieted down so that she wouldn’t earn any more lecturing from Texas.

It was late afternoon before they reached the town that Georgie had sent them to, and all five of them were glad to be able to look for supplies while it was still light out. Red looked over at Jon and Martin, who had automatically moved to lean up against each other once the group had stopped moving. “Right, so Martin, you’ll be with Leah and I on lookout out here, Jon and Texas will start searching the buildings.”

Jon refrained from complaining about having to be on searching duty with Texas, especially when he was basically an expert lookout at this point. But he understood that the others were trying to get an idea of how well Jon and Martin each worked on their own, and he couldn’t blame them for wanting to assess the newest members of their community.

So he just gave rose on his tiptoes to give Martin a quick peck on the cheek, and then he followed Texas towards a convenience store. “We are to stay within eyesight of each other the entire time we’re in there, understand?”

“Got it.” 

The two of them went in through the front door, and then started going through the shelves. A lot of stuff had already gone bad by now, but the store seemed otherwise untouched by the catastrophe that the whole world was experiencing. 

Both of them stuffed their backpacks full with everything useful they could find, and then they both nodded at each other before turning towards the exit. Jon froze, though, when he heard the slightest rustling noise from somewhere off to the side. It could have easily been the wind outside the building, but he Knew that it wasn’t. 

He abruptly raised his hand, and Texas paused. She looked towards the backroom that Jon pointed to, and tilted her head. She must have heard the noise too, because she nodded once, and then shifted into a position that would let her sprint out of the building.

Jon quickly shook his head. He understood that in pretty much every situation, running was the most logical thing to do. But he also Knew that it wasn’t going to be some monsters waiting for them behind that door, but instead a pair of sisters that had hid in the store when they realized people were approaching the town.

Jon ignored the pissed off look on Texas’ face as he walked over to the door and gently knocked on it. He already Knew that it was locked from the other side, so there was no point in trying the knob and scaring the women even further. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” He swallowed before offering up the lie, “We are all human out here.”

“Go away. Even if you are humans, you wouldn’t want to help us, so just leave.” Jon frowned. “Why wouldn’t we want to help?”

There was a long pause, and Jon could practically feel Texas’ eyes burning holes in his back from the strength of her glare. Then there was a soft click, and the door swung open, revealing a young woman clutching a baseball bat. When Jon peered past her, he saw a slightly older looking woman in a wheelchair. 

He looked at them both, and then tried to offer his friendliest grin (though he felt a pang in his chest when he remembered the time Tim had tried to give him ‘smiling lessons’, and had eventually declared Jon to be hopeless at it). “I’m Jon, and this is Texas. We’re from the college just west of here.”

The woman with the baseball bat lowered her weapon slightly. “I’m Farrah, and that’s my sister Fawn.”

Jon wasn’t sure what the protocol was on situations like this, but he also knew that Georgie’s group couldn’t be as large as it was if they never took in new people. “We’ve got a place that’s about as safe as you could ask for these days, with plenty of extra room. There are working elevators, so there shouldn’t be any issue.”

Farrah narrowed her eyes. “Are you serious? You’d really want to take us in, even though my sister is ‘just a drain on resources’?” She said it with the tone of someone quoting someone else, and Jon wondered why some people looked out at a troubled world and thought it would be fun to add to the misery of it all. “And I’m not all that well off either, so don’t go thinking that I can make up for her.”

Jon shook his head. “You’re human beings, and you deserve to be safe, that’s all.”

To his surprise, Texas spoke up. “Once we finish looting, we can set up a camp, and then we’ll head back in the morning. Like he said, there’s plenty of space. You can stay in here, or come meet the others that are with us.”

The women ended up following Jon and Texas outside, and soon introductions were made. Farrah and Fawn both decided to join the lookout team, and Jon and Texas went into the next building. “I’m surprised you’re not reaming me for that,” Jon admitted. 

Texas shrugged. “Am I annoyed that you thought it would be a good idea to investigate a mysterious noise that could have been anything? Yes. But am I glad that we found people who we can help? Also yes. In the end, that’s all I want to do, is make sure that as many people make it through all of this as possible.”

“So you believe that there’s something better waiting for us on the other end?”

She shrugged again. “I have to, don’t I? Otherwise, what’s the point?” They took everything they could find, and then turned to leave the liquor store they’d been searching. As Jon reached out to grab the handle to open the front door, Texas suddenly put her hand on his arm to stop him. “You should probably know that as much as we want to save everyone, there has to be rules. Today was fine, but we basically never take anyone that’s alone.”

Jon furrowed his eyebrows. “Why not?”

Texas sighed. “If they made it this long on their own, then odds are they aren’t human anymore, and we can’t risk the whole group for a single person. Do you understand?”

He didn’t want to, but he did understand. If Jon had been on his own all this time… It was best not to think about that. “Thanks for the heads up.”

She wasn’t finished yet, though did remove her hand. “Oh, and if you ever try to pull something so stupid again, I will not let you come out on trips with me anymore.”

Jon laughed. “Fair enough.” 

They finished their scavenging with just a little bit of light left to spare, and then the whole group gathered on the edge of town, in a small house that had been abandoned. They set up a schedule for who would sleep and who would be on watch, and there always had to be at least two people on watch. Jon volunteered to take the first shift, and Martin insisted on taking it as well.

Once the others had drifted off, Jon and Martin scooted closer and Martin put his hand around Jon’s shoulders so that he could tuck Jon securely into his side. “They’re sisters,” Martin murmured.

Jon arched one eyebrow. “Yes, I know.” What he didn’t know was why Martin had felt the need to bring it up, but he waited patiently to find out.

There was some peaceful silence between them for a few minutes, and if Jon wasn’t close enough to feel the motions of Martin’s chest as he breathed, he might have thought that Martin had fallen asleep. “In the dorm, and out here, it seems that everyone who’s survived and stayed sane did so because they were with someone they love.”

“Martin, if you’re trying to bait me, it’s not going to work. I already tell you I love you far too often.”

Martin snorted. “No, that’s not- I mean, it’s certainly never stops being nice to hear, but I wasn’t- Don’t you get it, Jon? All this time we’ve been wondering how to stop all of this, if there even is a way to stop it, but I think that we completely passed over the obvious answer.” Jon scrunched up his nose, still confused, and Martin let out an exasperated little noise. “Jon, it’s love. You told me that you think the tapes worked as an anchor to get you out of the coffin because I put them there, and you told me about that statement of the guy who survived nearly drowning because of his grandfather, and Daisy pushed to get out of the coffin because she needed to get back to Basira. Don’t you get it? The people who have made it this long all made it because you can escape the fears if you’ve got love to pull you back when you get too close to the edge.”

Jon blinked once, and then he abruptly pulled away from the warmth of Martin’s body so that he could look the man in the eyes. “Martin, that’s- I mean-” Then he threw his arms around Martin’s neck, and ended up sprawled half in Martin’s lap. “Martin you’re brilliant!”  
,,,

Martin looked around the room that had been declared an impromptu meeting room. It wasn’t packed full, just him, Jon, Georgie, and Melanie, at least for now. It was so strange to have all four of them in one space after everything they’d all been through, and it made Martin fiercely miss the days when it had been a different set of four (sometimes he thought he could still hear the echoes of Tim’s laugh after telling a bad joke, or the way Sasha had- no, he tried not to think about her, because he knew that none of his memories were of the real Sasha). 

Melanie was wearing a pair of sunglasses that were so reflective they were basically mirrors, and had a thin walking stick leaned up against the side of her chair. Georgie leaned forward in her own seat as she looked carefully at Martin and Jon. “So what are you saying?”

Jon reached down to fumble through his jacket pocket, and then withdrew a crumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it out on his knee, which gave Martin a chance to look at it, and he frowned. “I didn’t know you’d saved that,” he said quietly.

Jon shot him an apologetic look. “It felt too important to just get rid of it, even if I despise everything that it stands for.” He cleared his throat, and then held the paper out for Georgie to take it. “I know you’ve had your ideas and theories and assumptions, but I- I need to tell you what really happened. I was tricked into reading this, and that’s when- that’s when the whole world changed.” He bit his lip, most likely to stop his next words from being self-blame, since Martin was sitting right there and always hated to hear Jon blame himself for the apocalypse. “All of the fears were summoned, and that’s how we ended up in this version of the world. But Martin- he’s brilliant, and he’s always been so much better at noticing things than me, and he realized something very important. Everyone who we’ve encountered that have lived this long did it because they had love to anchor them to this world.”

Georgie looked over the paper, holding it gingerly like it was about to explode in her hands. “This is… I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but Jon… I did tell you to get out.”

Melanie sighed, and reached out to rest her hand on Georgie’s knee. “It’s not his fault. Unless he wanted to quit the same way that I did, there was no other choice.”

Jon looked surprised to hear Melanie of all people defend him, but then he focused back on Georgie. “I think that maybe, just maybe, there’s a way to undo this. I don’t know exactly how, but I know that it would involve harnessing love the same way Jonah made me harness all that fear. Do you- do you remember a statement that you took, obviously a while back. It was about some guy who got trapped in the spiral, and he just kept going on and on about his dog? I listened to the recording, you were clearly in shock when he said that he went home after, with no harm caused. But I think he was only able to leave like that because he was thinking of his mother, who he loves. And pretty much everyone here has someone else here that they love, right? And I know that I- without Martin-”

Martin took Jon’s hand to give it a comforting squeeze. He understood that Jon Knew he had Martin’s support, but Martin figured that it was important to remind him every now and again. 

Jon shot him a grateful look before turning back to Georgie. “This place is full of so much love, and I think- I think we’re going to need all of it.”

There was a long moment of silence as Georgie thought that over, and then Melanie surprised them all when she spoke again. “Are you just doing this because you feel guilty about causing the apocalypse?”

Martin wanted to remind everyone once and for all that Jon did not cause any of this, but Jon spoke first. “Well, yes, of course, but I- I mean it’s also because it’s the right thing to do. None of this should have ever even happened in the first place, and I- if there’s anything I can do to fix this, then I owe it to myself and everyone else in the world to at least try, right?”

“Would it put everyone here at risk?” Was Georgie’s first question. “Because everyone here trusts me to protect them, and I can’t-”

This time Martin was able to get his words out before Jon. “Everyone here is already at risk, because they have to live in a world like this. We can’t make it more dangerous than it already is here.”

There were another few seconds of silence, and then Georgie let out a heavy sigh as she slumped back in her seat. “Do you really think you can fix this?”

“I- I hope so.” 

She nodded once. “Then fix it. And Jon? If you mess this up, I am going to tell everyone what you looked like when you were in a band in college.”

It was hard for Martin to hide the fact that he was suddenly quite intrigued when Jon’s cheeks grew dark, but he managed to contain his curiosity. Jon just nodded, and gave Georgie a grim little smile. “I will do everything in my power to make this right, I swear it.” Then he got up and crossed the small space to bend over and give Georgie a big hug. “Oh, I have missed you.” 

She grinned, and easily returned the gesture. “I’ve missed you too, Jon.”  
,,,

Benton looked up at the bright blue sky, and then down at Mr. President. “You’re getting old, boy, aren’t you?” If dogs could talk, Mr. President would probably loudly disagree, but Benton said what he needed to say. “Maybe it’s time to give up on our life in the woods, eh? I’m sure you would like to have other dogs to play with.” Since dogs couldn’t actually talk, Mr. President just let out a soft yip, and Benton decided to take that as a sound of agreement. He crouched down to rub Mr. President’s head. “Well alright then, I suppose that’s decided. I’m a little out of practice bein’ a part of civilized society and all, but then again, I think pretty much everyone is at this point, so we should be alright.” Then he jogged over to a couple of others who were heading down the road, ready to return to their homes and their lives. “Hey, wait up!”  
,,,

Korrin held her breath as she crossed over the threshold into her new home. She’d never had a forever home before, and she had been worried that once the world was fixed, Franklin and Red would realize that they didn’t need her. That there were other kids out there who were probably a lot less messed up, if they’d been sheltered more than she had during the awful past year.

But Franklin just gave her a big smile as he reached out to gently put his hand on her shoulder and propel her into the living room. “Apparently this place is still a disaster, but don’t worry, none of that is from the fears, that’s just what it’s like to live with Red. I hope that doesn’t make you change your mind about us.”

Korrin laughed, and turned to pull Franklin into a hug. “Are you kidding? This place is amazing!” Truthfully, she probably would have said that no matter what the place looked like, but it was nice to realize that she was telling the truth. What was a bit of a mess, really, when it came with a family?  
,,,

Rick rolled his eyes as he listened to his mum on the phone. “Yes, I understand, that’s why I said we’d be going after the reunion. Come on, you know that me and Stevie have wanted to do a backpacking trip for ages, but we never got around to it, and now’s the perfect chance. We need to take this opportunity before any companies decide to start bringing their travel fares back up to normal. Yes, I promise we’ll be safe. Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?

When he was finally able to hang up, he looked over at where Steve was awkwardly standing in the doorway. “You sure you want to just blow everyone off like this? I mean, this whole backpacking thing was always more of my dream than yours.”

Rick just walked over and bumped his shoulder against Steve’s. “What are bros for if not going on life-changing trips together?” 

Steve smiled. “Thanks.” Then they both fist-bumped before Steve left to head back to his own place. He stopped just a few steps outside of the flat, though, and hurried back in through the still open door. “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a flatmate, would you?”  
,,,

When Texas saw the brand new truck parked in front of their house, she let out a loud yelp of delight, and then turned around to pick up her husband and spin him around. “Thank you! You’re the best husband ever!” 

She set him down and then rushed over to start inspecting the vehicle. It was similar to the one she used to drive, and it brought back so many old memories, while also giving her hope for the future. In short, it was perfect. Henry just chuckled at his wife’s excitement. “I’m glad you like it. Want to take her for a spin?”

Texas looked back over at him. “Oh, I certainly would. And how about you? Would you like a ride?”

Henry’s face turned pink at that, but he still laughed and nodded as he slid into the passenger seat. Texas got in the driver's seat, and then the two of them both set their hands down in the space between so that they were resting gently on top of each other. After a rough start- coming home to find their entire house ransacked and half burnt- this felt like a nice win, and they were both happy to share the moment with each other.  
,,,

The first time Abby woke up from an unplanned nap and didn’t recognize her surroundings or see her daughters anywhere, she felt panic rise up in her. She threw back the blanket that she didn’t remember falling asleep with, and ran through the flat. 

She saw the girls huddled together on the couch in the living room, watching TV. Then Abby remembered that they were safe, and everything was over, but they’d found a new home because the old one had been too badly ruined, and everything was okay.

She didn’t want to scare them, so she just watched them from the doorway, content to look and them and remind herself that they were alright. Abby planned to leave once she calmed herself down, but then Iris, the youngest, peered back and spotted her. “Mummy!” 

Katya glanced back as well. “Come sit with us, Mum.”

Who was she to turn down such an invitation? So Abby walked over to the couch and plopped down in the middle of her girls, and all four of them moved to squish together even though there was enough space on the couch. It was nice to be pressed this close together, and to know that they were all together, so everything was going to be just fine.  
,,,

Rhodan and her mum both grimaced at the same time when they saw the carpet of ant corpses all across their lawn. It was going to be a lot of work to make this place really feel like home again, and it was depressing to think about how much energy and time and money would need to be used.

Then Rhodan was pulled out of her thoughts when her mum reached out to pat her shoulder. “Do you think the homeowner’s association allows for this?”

It was a stupid joke, but it broke the moment, and Rhodan let out an involuntary snort. “We’d have to double check. It’s probably listed somewhere under ‘unique decorations’.” Then they both laughed until there were tears leaking from their eyes, and they leaned into a hug at the same time. It felt good to laugh, but it felt even better to cry. It was something they’d had to force themselves not to do over the past year, out of the worry that it would summon the fears to them, but now they were free to pour out their feelings. “I’m so glad that you decided to invite yourself over that night, even though I told you not to come.” 

Her mum let out a wet laugh. “I’m glad that you broke up with that idiot, so I had a reason to visit.” Then she pulled away, and cleared her throat a couple of times. “So where do you keep the cleaning supplies? We may as well get started.”

Rhodan grinned. “I’ll show you.” She’d never been so glad to hear her mum prepare for a cleaning spree. And she couldn’t remember a time where she’d ever looked forward to actually cleaning, but at least it would probably go by quicker than usual since there would be two of them working on it.  
,,,

Kyle’s family all sat around the newly restored dinner table, and practically salivated at the delicious smells that had filled the house as his mum cooked all day. It had been far too long since any of them had gotten to enjoy a home cooked meal, and Kyle wondered why he had always been so resistant to these family dinners in the past. He must have been crazy, because right now, all he wanted to do was be with them, and celebrate the start of something a little bit new.  
,,,

Leah laughed at something a friend had said, and then took a sip of her wine. In the lull that followed the conclusion of that story, Leah looked around the room, automatically seeking out her wife. Ella was in the corner with a couple of her work friends, all of them snickering about something and looking quite amused. 

They hadn’t thrown a dinner party in ages, and even though part of Leah felt strange cleaning up and sitting down to eat fancy foods and talk about work stuff, the rest of her embraced it because it was such a familiar event.

Later in the evening, once everyone had gone home and everything had been cleaned up (or almost everything- a few minor messes had been left for the morning), Leah and Ella retreated to their bedroom, and changed into their coziest pajamas. Then they got into bed, and rolled onto their sides so that they faced each other. 

Ella had missed a spot of makeup when she’d washed her face, and Leah leaned forward to kiss the corner of her wife’s lips. Then they both relaxed, and fell asleep holding each other. It was so nice to know that no matter what had happened and what they’d been through, some things never changed.   
,,,

Jon got out of the cab, and then waited for Martin to get out as well. They both automatically reached out to hold hands, and then they stared up at the building where all of it had started. Not just the apocalypse, but everything. It was just a shell of its former glory, thanks to the damage that Ella (and other angry folks) had done to it, but it was still stable enough to go inside. 

Martin gave Jon’s hand a gentle squeeze. “You sure you want to do this? We don’t have to go in.” 

That was sweet of Martin to say, but Jon wanted to- needed to go in. He needed to know if there was any sign of Jonah left. He had no idea where the man might have disappeared to in order to avoid consequences, but if there was even the smallest clue, then Jon had to know. And he couldn’t blame any entity for the insatiable curiosity that had plagued him for as far back as he could remember.

The two of them headed inside, and went up to what had once been Jonah’s office. The plaque bearing Elias Bouchard’s name was still on the wall next to the door, and Jon swallowed back bile as his imagination ran wild with ideas about what might have happened to the real Elias. 

They did a thorough sweep of the office, but no clues came up that were of any use, and they eventually left. As they passed by the entrance to the basement, though, Jon slowed to a stop. He didn’t even say anything, but Martin seemed to understand, because he followed him down.

The walls of the basement were concrete, which had apparently been enough to stop the fire from spreading down there, because the archives looked untouched. There was a layer of dust across everything, but it was such an achingly familiar sight that Jon had to hold back the urge to look over at the bullpen, where he was almost certain he’d see the ghosts of the past.

Instead, he walked over to what had been his office. His name was written in the glass panel of the door, though a giant x had been scratched through it at one point (presumably by Melanie or Daisy). Jon reached out with shaking hands to push the door open. 

Even though he knew that the office had to have been left a mess, after everything with Trevor and Julia and Daisy and the Not-Sasha and the police poking around after, somehow it all looked the same as Jon had left it. The stacks of statements not yet sorted, the rather tall tray of statements that had been marked as nonsense, the mug that Martin used to bring him tea in (but Jon hadn’t been able to drink from it after waking from his coma because he never made the tea nearly as well as Martin had been able to). The chair was even pushed back a bit, like someone had gotten up in a hurry.

When Jon pulled open his miscellaneous drawer, he saw the ashes of Jane Prentiss and his own rib and a few other odds and ends that he’d picked up over the years but had seemed too unexplainable to leave right out on his desk. 

Jon went to slam the door shut, but it wouldn’t go all the way back in, and he frowned as he knelt down to get a better look. He pulled the drawer all the way out, and saw that a piece of paper had gotten caught in the track. Jon reached back to carefully pull it free, and then sat back on his haunches as he looked at his prize. 

It was a photograph from an office party that felt like it must have taken place during a different lifetime. It was from long before Jon had been promoted to Head Archivist, and one of his coworkers had basically told him that the yearly holiday party was mandatory to attend (which it turned out not to be, and it had just been the pesky man’s way of tricking Jon into going). 

Jon brushed his thumb over his face, which was off in the background. Even with him being out of focus in the picture, he could tell that he looked so much younger back then, with hardly any gray in his hair yet, and no scars to speak of. Then on the other side was Tim, kissing some random secretary under the mistletoe. Sasha (and Jon hated that it was Not-Sasha in the photo, but it had been the real Sasha at that party) stood by the snack table and was mid-laugh as she chatted with some colleagues. Elias stood in the center of the room, a smug look on his face as he spoke with everyone.

Jon suddenly looked up at Martin, who was giving him a slightly worried look. “Where are you in this picture? I know you worked here back then.”

Martin leaned over to get a better look, and then he smiled fondly. “I took that photo. I had already worked here for a year, but I was suddenly convinced that I was going to be fired at any moment, so even though I hadn’t gone the year before, I decided to go to the party. I took a picture to remember everyone by, in case I was sacked afterwards. How did you get your hands on this?”

“I’m not sure, it was just,” Jon waved his hand in the general direction of his desk. Then he stood up, and carefully folded the picture to stick into his pocket. “I think we’ve seen enough of this place to last a lifetime. Come on, let’s get out of here.” 

Martin grinned, and the two of them left the building hand in hand. It was a nice enough day out, so they decided to walk around the city for a little bit before heading back to the flat they’d gotten a couple weeks back. As much as they’d both enjoyed their brief vacation in Scotland, in the end they’d both agreed that they would miss the city too much if they stopped living there permanently. 

As they walked, Martin shifted so that their elbows were looped together so that they could both stick their hands into their own pockets to stay warm, and Jon laughed. “You know, I always used to hate the cliche of ‘love conquers all’.”

Martin hip-checked Jon. “That’s because you have the strangest taste in literature.”

“At least I don’t worship Keats,” Jon laughed. Then he turned his head to kiss Martin’s shoulder to make sure Martin knew that it was just a joke. He opened his mouth to say something else, but ended up yawning instead, and he was so surprised that he paused mid-step and looked up at Martin with wide eyes.

Martin just shrugged. “I guess saving the world is tiring work even for you.” 

“I guess so,” Jon murmured. He looked out at the rest of the sidewalk, and took in the sight of all the hundreds of people walking by. All of them were heading to their own destinations, and looked confident that they knew where they were going. And all of them had survived the worst of the worst, which meant that they had love in their lives. Jon let out a soft sigh, and then started moving again. “Let’s go home.” 

Martin nodded. “Home. Yeah, I like the sound of that.” 

Jon looked at Martin, aware of how much his feelings showed on his face, and then leaned the side of his head against Martin’s shoulder. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so content in his life. “I am glad, of course, that love conquers all.”

“Yeah, me too.” And they walked together, just another pair in the crowd, and even though everyone they passed surely had someone they loved, Jon and Martin felt special because they loved each other, and in that moment, nothing else could possibly matter more.


End file.
